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Respected Suvendu-ji,
Your government's recent order directing 23 District Magistrates to establish "holding centres" for illegal immigrants — Bangladeshis and Rohingyas alike — reflects a firmness of purpose that many citizens will appreciate.[1] The "detect, delete, deport" policy is, in spirit, precisely what border integrity demands.
However, as a concerned citizen who has examined this question in some depth,[2] I feel compelled to draw your attention to an aspect of this order that appears to have received inadequate deliberation: the catastrophic financial burden it will impose on an already stretched State exchequer — for a problem that is, constitutionally and legally, entirely a Central subject.
Allow me to place before you a simple but sobering arithmetic.[2]
A recent national television broadcast showed a brand-new, three-storey detention facility constructed in Uttar Pradesh — purpose-built to house just 50 persons (30 men and 20 women). A conservative estimate of its construction cost: not less than ₹ 5 crores.
Ten lakh crore rupees — just to build the centres. That is roughly equal to West Bengal's entire GSDP for three years. But the capital cost, shocking as it is, is not even the deepest wound.
And this brings us to the most inconvenient question of all :
> for how long must we feed and house these detainees ?
The honest answer, Suvendu-ji, is :
> indefinitely. Possibly forever.
Over 99% of these migrants are from Bangladesh. Does anyone — in New Delhi or in Nabanna — genuinely believe that the Bangladeshi government will formally accept them back, en masse, with documentation, in an orderly process ?
History gives us no reason for such optimism. Bangladesh has repeatedly and categorically denied that its nationals are present illegally in India in any significant number. Without a receiving country's cooperation, deportation is legally and practically impossible. The detainees simply... stay.
"Hey Yogiji — how soon can we move out of our jhuggi-jhopdis and into those palatial new mansions you are building for us?"
The State of West Bengal would, in effect, be constructing a vast, permanent, subsidised housing programme — for foreign nationals — funded by Bengali taxpayers.
This leads to the crux of the matter: immigration is a Central subject.
Under the Constitution of India, Entry 17 of the Union List (Seventh Schedule) explicitly assigns "Citizenship, naturalisation and aliens" to Parliament. Entry 19 covers "Admission into, and emigration and expulsion from, India.
" The Foreigners Act 1946, the Passport (Entry into India) Act 1920, and all related legislation flow from Union authority.
The BSF — which guards the very borders through which these migrants entered — is a Central force. The deportation process itself is supervised by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In short: this is not Bengal's problem to finance. It is India's problem, and the financial responsibility must rest entirely with the Government of India.
My respectful submission to you is therefore threefold:
First — before issuing construction orders to 23 DMs,[1] formally write to the Union Home Minister demanding that 100% of the capital and recurring cost of all holding centres be borne by the Central Government, with funds transferred directly to the State under a dedicated budgetary head.
Second — insist that the Centre provide a concrete, time-bound bilateral diplomatic framework with Bangladesh for verified deportations. Detention without deportation is not a policy; it is an indefinitely funded waiting room.
Third — until such financial assurance is in writing from New Delhi, direct your DMs to identify and document illegal immigrants rigorously, but defer all construction expenditure. The State must not be left holding a ₹10-lakh-crore bill for a problem it did not create and does not have the constitutional mandate — or the resources — to resolve alone.
Your instincts on infiltration are, I believe, correct. But good intentions must be backed by sustainable economics and constitutional clarity — otherwise, Bengal's taxpayers will end up permanently subsidising the very situation your government set out to fix.
With Regards,
Hemen Parekh
www.ntaNEET.net / www.My-Teacher.in / www.HemenParekh.ai / www.IndiaAGI.ai
25 May 2026
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